Thanks to the 1994 Winter Olympics, the small town of Lillehammer has a record cash surplus in its books.
At the end of last year, the city of 23,000 people in south Norway had a budget surplus of $2.39 million, the Norwegian news agency NTB reported Wednesday. Lillehammer built up another $ 1.1 million surplus during the first quarter of 1994."The reason `the shop' is going well is, of course, mainly due to the Olympics," Lillehammer City Councilman Steinar Sorlie said.
Booming sales at local businesses, as well as tax income from construction companies and temporary residents, gave the town a windfall from the Feb. 12-27 Games. The Norwegian government picked up most the tab for the $1 billion Olympics, partly to help the region out of a deep economic slump.